Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
RW wrote:
1 Obtain a shorter piece of same dia scaff pole.

Much snippage

I like the cut of your jib, young RW, and plan to follow your suggestion to
the letter - as soon as I've tried the hose pipe method. Just because I want
to, and I can for it is my pole. I'm seeing all sorts of things going wrong,
most involving me getting very wet.


Everything depends on the ground conditions, but the hosepipe method is
likely to produce a slack, conical hole in ground that has been made
very soft... all exactly what you *don't* want for a clothes post.

Another twist on RW's method is to cut two big, strong teeth into the
end of the short piece and use it as a rotary core drill. With the help
of a handlebar (another piece of scaff and a clamp) and a spirit level
to keep it vertical, this will go down quite easily into most types of
soil. A *small* amount of water helps as a lubricant, but it's the
back-and-forth turning motion that's doing the digging. Drill down until
the tube becomes solidly plugged with mud, then pull out the tube, clear
out the plug and repeat.

Unless you run into something big and completely immovable, it should
only take a few minutes to get down 2-3ft. With care you'll have a tight
vertical hole in solid undisturbed ground. The long post should then tap
snugly into place.

To prevent the sideways load from enlarging the top of the hole, you can
dig out a 1ft cube around the base of the post *after* you've installed
it, and throw in some concrete to increase the load-bearing area. (If
you're determined to use the hosepipe method, you will definitely need
to do this, but once again do it *after* you have installed the post.)




--
Ian White